Howdy doo da! Happy Wednesday! Hafta say thank you to DragonEmerald98 for my first (and only :D) review! I appreciate it so much! Two more weeks and I'm out of school for spring break! I'm not doing anything really fun but relaxing, which in itself right now sounds super fun. Anywho, here's the next chapter!
Chapter 3
The Dog from 'ell Itself
Jessie and Buzz turned just fast enough to see Woody snatched up in front of them into the dog's mouth, with the terrifying sound of ripping fabric. Jessie's eyes grew wide and she froze, gripping her hat.
"WOODY!" she screamed as the dog shook its head violently.
Buzz leapt into action. He remembered dealing with a bad dog before, but it wasn't nearly as vicious. The dog reacted to Jessie's screams and flashed its eyes towards her. One was scarred. The space toy tried slapping, punching, kicking, and any other method he could think of to try to make it release Woody from its death grip.
It finally acknowledged him, not having very good eyesight, and chucked the cowboy away. It lowered its head and snarled, opening its jaws wide. Buzz acted quickly and grabbed the dog's eyelid over its bad eye. The dog whimpered as Buzz tugged on it leading it farther away from the fence.
"Jessie, get Woody and get back to the house," he said somewhat quietly.
Jessie's wide eyes spotted Woody across the way. She slowly made her way over to him, and quickly saw that his chest was overflowing from stuffing. His eyes were still closed, and he didn't respond her touching him. She moved her gaze back to the dog, and wrapped her arms around Woody.
She spotted his hat not too far away and wrapped her stiff fingers around the brim. The cowgirl stood up and started darting to the fence.
The dog sensed the movement and as Jessie ran towards the fence with Woody in her arms, it shoved Buzz up and away with its snout. Buzz landed on the ground next to the tail. He grabbed it right before the dog leaped in front of Jessie. Their only escape was blocked. The Rottweiler snapped at Buzz, who was starting to pull its fur as hard as he could. Jessie watched in pure horror when the dog caught the toy's arm in its jaws.
"Run! Away from the house!" Buzz yelled, struggling trying to free himself from the unbearable weight coming down on his arm. Jessie darted off away from the house down the sidewalk. He knew pushing against the dog would only result in his arm popping off, but it was the only means of getting away.
He yanked away from the dog, feeling lighter without his arm, and fell out of the dogs reach. Buzz started sprinting after Jessie, not daring to look back.
"'Ere! You two! Get in 'ere now!" shouted a voice from inside another fence. Jessie slipped through it, and she poked out her face watching the dog catch up with the Space Ranger.
She shouted his name as he slipped in the nick of time where the dog tried to poke its head through barking and biting down.
"Get out of 'ere yeh stupid mutt!" cried an angry gnome beside them. He poked a stick at the dog's bad eye, and it yelped in pain. It gave up after a few seconds and scampered off down the street back into the darkness…
Jessie was on the ground with Woody in her lap, breathing heavily. Buzz sighed and leaned against the fence for support.
"Thanks for your help. We would have been toast if it hadn't been for you," he said looking at the gnome.
"Yer not wise to be going out at night with that beast roaming the streets. I'm Goban," he said in an Irish accent. He took a close look at the two. "I've seen yeh before from down the street. The little girl plays with yeh outside."
"I'm Buzz, and that's Jessie… Where did that dog come from?" Buzz asked trying to catch his breath
"Rumors from the other lawn ornaments say that the devil came from 'ell itself. Others say it's an old junkyard dog that ran away and has been hiding out 'ere ever since. All we know fer sure is that it nearly gave the poor boy from down the street an 'eart attack. The boy had to 'ave stitches all up 'is arm. The sneaky bugger has escaped animal control twice now."
"Buzz… he's not moving at all," Jessie said as she examined Woody on the ground. Buzz quickly crossed over Goban to look at his torn up friend.
"I saw what yer friend did fer yeh. Yer man made a very foolhardy decision fer standing up to the beast," Goban said leaning down to look at the sheriff. "And look at yeh! Yeh've only got one arm! I wish I could've knocked the devil's noggin if I could only fit through this blasted fence!"
Jessie looked at where Buzz's arm should have been. "What happened? Where did it go? She touched it gently.
"It was the only way to get away. The dog probably left it back near the house somewhere…" Buzz said.
"So what do we do? Woody's not waking up and he's torn to shreds! We can't take him back home yet! What if he gets thrown away?" Jessie asked, panicking.
"It's ok Jess, we'll think of something…" Buzz responded as Jessie ran buried her face into his chest.
"It's alright child… Yeh see, yer a pair of very lucky toys, because it just so 'appens yeh live in the neighborhood of the greatest toy restorer in the world. Just last week me owner's grandchild broke 'er toy 'orse and they got the lucky thing fixed up lickety split. Now I'm not guaranteeing she can fix up yer friend there, but if anyone could do it, it'd be 'er," Goban said.
Buzz and Jessie looked at each other nervously. "It's not like we can exactly leave him at her doorstep, can we?" Jessie said putting her hand on Woody's face.
"Ah, that's the most marvelous thing. See, the rumor is she knows the secret of toys," the gnome said winking at them. "That's the reason she's so good at what she does, is because she can almost always identify the problem by blatherin' to the toys she treats, like a proper doctor."
"At this point, she's our only chance…" Buzz said sadly.
"Perfect! I'll point yeh in the right direction! Good luck to yeh both!"